At present, the number of patients having dyskinesia caused by diseases such as stroke, spinal cord injury, amputation is gradually increasing at home and abroad. Since these patients cannot walk like normal people, over long time, they will suffer from other diseases such as osteoporosis, muscle atrophy and obesity. A rehabilitation and walking aid robot such as a wearable exoskeleton suit, or an artificial limb can be worn on the patients having dyskinesia, to help the patients to conduct rehabilitation training, aid their walking, thereby improving their live quality.
An actuator is an important part of the rehabilitation and walking aid robot. It can determine the output torque and speed of the robot, thus determining the robot's performance. In traditional engineering applications, the driver is generally required to have a sufficient rigidity to achieve a precise control of the system. However, in the field of the rehabilitation and walking aid robot, the robot needs to interact with people. For safety, comfort and other considerations, it is usually necessary to reduce the rigidity of the actuator. In addition, since the robot needs to provide the auxiliary torque for the patients over a long period of time, it is usually necessary for the system to have a high energy efficiency.
However, actuators of rehabilitation and walking aid robot recently disclosed by research institutes at home and abroad mostly have relatively high rigidity, which cannot effectively buffer the external impact on the system. Moreover, they are required to provide high electrical current, resulting in low energy efficiency and security risks.
Therefore, there is a need for an actuator that can properly lower the system rigidity, reduce the influence of the external impact on the system, and at the same time having high energy efficiency and safety.